


Trouble on Bhunemir

by RoryChaze



Series: Stories from the 305th or Beskaryc bal Copyc [2]
Category: Star Wars: Rise of Empire Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Platonic Romance, Prompt Fic, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 10:24:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5662861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoryChaze/pseuds/RoryChaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ali and Trick run into some mischievous Amarans while on a mission on Bhunemir.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trouble on Bhunemir

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Your characters awaken one morning to find out that somehow, their hair and eye colour have switched. How do they react?

“Osik,” Trick muttered, sitting up. His helmet still displayed the bioluminescent green of night vision, but the midday sun made everything almost unbearably bright. He quickly switched to a mode easier on the eyes and remembered where he was. 

The arid planet of Bhunemir showed no signs of life on the vast plains in his sensors, except for the occasional insectoid leaping from the tall grass, and he could barely see the long mountain chain they had come from off to the west. He took another look around and saw the speeder bike he had been riding about fifteen meters away.

That’s when he remembered who he was traveling with. “General Kora?” He let her name hang in the air before he called again, louder this time, “General Kora?!” How could he forget he was traveling with his General? He knocked his hand into the side of his helmet a few times and felt a dull pain on the back of his head. The fall must have rattled him up.

He stood up slowly, carefully watching his armor sensors for any kind of trauma; but the only sensor that was going off was for his accelerated heart rate. It would be his fault if he couldn’t bring her back safely, and he knew he would never forgive himself if anything had happened to her. He turned up the loudspeaker on his helmet, “General Kora!” Something white shifted thirty meters away and Trick broke into a heavy run, one hand holding his Deece just in case. The tall grass was thick, but his armor plates cut through it fast enough to keep him from tripping.

He skidded to a halt in front of a mass that was clearly his General. Her wings were outstretched, as if she was making sure they were okay, and she was on her knees and elbows with her hands holding the back of her head.

“General Kora,” he ran the scan to check for severe injuries. Nothing came up. “Are you okay?”

That’s when she gave a long groan and sat back on her heels, rubbing her temples and forehead in the process.

Something didn’t look right to Trick. He knew this was his General, but she didn’t _look_ like his General. Something was off.

Kora rubbed her eyes before blinking rapidly and looking up at Trick, “I’d say I’m okay. I think I just hit my head hard.”

Under his helmet, Trick’s eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. As soon as Kora had looked at him, his insides squirmed and he saw the dramatic change. Her normally golden hair was jet black and was a stark contrast compared to her skin, even with the tan she had garnered. But it was her eyes that bothered him so much. They were now a dark golden color making her look much more animalistic and wild; but there was also a different kind of ferocity in them that looked extremely familiar, one of tenacity and dangerous cleverness.

He couldn’t stop his mouth, “Kora?”

Her left eyebrow—it was always the left—shot up. “Captain?”

“You… erm… you…” He could tell she was waiting for him to spit it out, and he just moved his hand over the dome of his helmet very slowly.

Kora took the hint and moved her own hand through her hair quickly, like she thought he saw a big bug in it or something. Her hair fell into her face and she stopped just as fast. He could see her face register it slowly as she gripped a small lock. She didn’t scream or gasp or anything; she just stood up with unerring grace, stepped up to him, grabbed both sides of his helmet, and pulled down.

“Uh, General—”

“Shhh.”

Trick kept very quiet and very still. He could see every detail in her upturned face, from the very faint laughter lines in the corners of her eyes and mouth, how her face rounded high on her cheek bones, to the way her nose turned up very slightly at the end, how her lips were full and pouting, and how her wild golden eyes looked like they were searching for him through his visor. He gulped as his stomach squirmed and hoped she hadn’t heard, but he knew she probably did.

She held onto his helmet as she turned her head this way and that, and Trick finally caught on to what she was doing. He glanced down and noticed that she was balancing on the balls of her feet and gave a small grin. He bent over as much as he could, and held himself steady by pushing his hands against his thighs.

He saw the corner of Kora’s mouth twitch and she was now looking straight at him, or so it seemed. “What the hell?” she whispered, now combing her fingers through her hair.

Trick had never believed his General was a vain female, but shrugged at the thought that everybody had something they favored about their physical appearance.

“I’m just… curious.” She read his mind and he rolled his eyes and smiled, knowing he could get away with it this time.

“How about I just give you the helmet.” He put his hands on top of hers and heard her breathe in sharply. “It’s okay, just probably easier so I can survey the surrounding area.” He lifted his helmet slowly and felt her pull it the rest of the way off.

She turned away and kept looking into the reflective visor. “Do you know where we are?”

Trick was retrieving the speeder and replied loudly, “I’d say a hundred and sixty-six klicks from Shino.” He got to the swoop and righted it with a push. As he walked back toward Kora he checked the speeder’s gauges. “Bike’s fine. Says it’s been a hundred and sixty-five klicks from Shino, and says power couplings need tightened. Easy fix up.” He stopped and pulled down his hair from its tight bun. He could feel parts of his hair flying out of place and he stuck his hair tie in his mouth while he scooped up the loose ends.

“You were close. Need any help?” She turned toward him and looked up from his helmet.

Kora’s face said it all and he grabbed his jaw with his free hand to feel for any large cuts or abrasions. “What? Do I haf a black eye or shomefing?”

She looked utterly confused and then her eyes went wide, “Your… you have… that’s _my_ hair! And I have your…” She bit her bottom lip.

“What?!” Trick let his hair fall and ripped the hair tie from his teeth. He pulled greasy strands forward and held it in front of his eyes. They were bright blonde, exactly the color Kora’s hair normally was.

He was scowling at his hair as Kora walked up to him. She reached up and took some of his hair in her fingers, playing with it as if its color was just dye. It made his stomach flip. “ _Wayii_ ,” she finally exclaimed.

Trick had to let out a scoff, “Yeah, ya got that right.”

“You’re eyes are blue as well,” she said matter-of-factly.

He immediately realized why her eye color looked so familiar. He was looking at his own eyes, the same color that every other troop in the GAR had.

“I noticed I had golden eyes too.” She pointed to her face and then stood on the balls of her feet to look up into his face again. She was so close that he could smell the sweet scent of shuura fruit on her breath, and her hair still smelled like the wet forests of Bakura. “Are my eyes _really_ that blue?”

 _Like the skies on Rodia. Like the lakes of Naboo. Like the break in the grey clouds on Kamino._ He wanted to tell her that her eyes were the most stunning color he’d ever seen, but held himself back. He looked back into her now golden ones, _his_ golden ones. Golden? He had only ever thought of his eyes as brown. The Fett genome back at Tipoca had brown as the clones’ eye color. But he could see how light they looked, how—for lack of a better term—golden they were. He liked the color of his eyes on her face. She looked like she could actually kill someone now. And her now black hair gave her a mysterious air, one that felt like she would blend into the shadows of night perfectly. But as he gave a short nod to her question, he felt guilty. He wanted that unimposing blue back, and her blonde hair made people underestimate her physical strength. He knew that was to her advantage. People wanted to _talk_ to her, feed her information without knowing they were doing so. She never went unnoticed, but she always got what she needed in the end. That was just the lure of his General.

“Hm.” She backed away and said flippantly, “It’s a nice change of pace, but I prefer blonde. It looks kind of cute on you, though.” She winked at him.

His stomach flipped again, “Oh. Um, thank you, General.”

Trick could have sworn he saw Kora blush, but she replied hastily, “Don’t change just because of a compliment. I still think you look better with black hair. And the blue eyes are unnerving.”

She didn’t know the half of it. “I’ll keep the black hair if we can figure out how to change it back. I’d rather not have to dye it.” He frowned and pulled his hair back quickly, twisting it into a disheveled bun.

Kora raised a finger, “To figure out how to change it back, we must figure out how it got changed in the first place.”

Trick’s cynicism took hold, “And how do you propose that, in the middle of a plateau?”

“Well,” she rounded on him, “we just have to take a look—”

He could hear the uneven rustle in the grass around them as well.

He scooped up his helmet from where Kora had set it on the speeder and put it on. He knew better than to ask what she was sensing, he just prepared for the worst—which was what usually ended up coming. He stayed absolutely quiet and as still as he could manage, she would give him information when she was ready. He trusted her completely.

“Organic,” she said after turning her back to him.

He noticed she didn’t reach for her lightsabers, but his soldier instincts told him to be prepared no matter what. Trick gripped his Deece pistol with both hands, but kept his finger off of the trigger.

“Twelve of them.”

Okay, twelve wasn’t a _terrible_ number to fight off if they were hostile wets. Still would be bad, as far as fights went.

“Small, but sentient.”

The odds were starting to look a little better. At least Kora could attempt a negotiation if they were unfriendlies.

“Armed.”

Osik.

“Hup. Fifteen. Three flanked.”

They might just get their shebse handed to them.

Kora stood up straight, but still did not grab her lightsabers.

Trick kept a close eye on their surroundings and enlarged his rear cam view on his HUD.

“Amarans.” Kora said with confidence.

“Amarans?” Trick knew she could only hear him through her ear piece. “But the database says they only inhabit Amar, Vulpter, and Naboo.” He scanned through the species database again to find the same result. “What are they doing on Bhunemir?”

Kora shrugged and Trick watched as she put on her most cunning smile and spread her arms wide.

He sighed audibly.

“Hello, my friends! I know you’re hidden, but I beg you to come out. My companion and I don’t scare very well, and we don’t want to harm you.”

Oh, she was good. It was just her personality. Trick rolled his eyes again, and then noticed a black nose at the end of a red muzzle sticking out of the grass in front of him. He kept his Deece aimed at the ground.

He looked over at his General who was greeting three vulpine looking creatures who walked upright. They all were dressed like the humans who lived on the planet, layer upon layer of orange, yellow, and red, but the one standing in front of Kora had a large headdress balanced over its ears and leaned against a staff.  

Trick felt a bump on his knee and he looked down into the dark eyes of the Amaran that had poked its nose out of the grass. It had its head cocked to the side, and Trick recognized the look of confusion from experience with other species. “Um, hello,” he said slowly, glancing at Kora for reassurance.

She had her teeth flashing in a laugh as she spoke Bhunemese to them. The obvious leader said something loudly and they all shouted something back and started walking away. Kora followed eagerly.

The little Amaran by Trick tapped his leg armor and held up its hand. Trick looked around and saw Kora glancing back at him.

“Come on,” she said with a smile, “They’re just taking us to their village and they want to help us out.”

“But the speeder,” he said into their private channel.

“They will bring the speeder along. No worries.” She turned back around and walked off with the Amaran in the headdress.

He felt the tap at his leg again and looked down. The little Amaran jumped and took his hand, pulling Trick over in a stoop to walk with it.

They didn’t walk for long, Trick saw on his HUD—only ten standard minutes—before they strolled in on a village of richly decorated homes. He could tell by the construction that the homes were made to be temporary, but comfortable enough to stay in a location for a while. They were circular and almost domed at the top, with pens filled with different kinds of animals running between them. So Amarans never lost their love of a good animal, whether it was a companion or a marketable item, which was interesting to Trick.

He was pushed along to a main hut and followed Kora inside. He was glad he still had his helmet on because his sensors were going haywire trying to filter out all of the incense that was burning. They sat down around a fire in the middle of the room and Kora elbowed him. She knew he could see her even if he didn’t turn his head. She motioned to take off his helmet and he sucked his teeth before complying.

He took a deep breath of filtered air and pulled off his helmet. He saw Kora’s mouth twitch slightly again and scowled to himself.

She leaned into him and whispered, “It’s cute.”

Trick still didn’t like it. He wanted to see it back on Kora. He wanted to see her shoulder length hair gleam like the moons. He wanted to watch it dance around her as she flew. He wanted to see her blue eyes focus on a mission. But with his hair and eye color on her, he could only see her as an assassin poised to kill. She looked very intimidating. It was like he was seeing another side of his General, like he was seeing what she referred to as the Dark Side of herself. He liked it, but it wasn’t the Kora he knew and… He gulped and didn’t think about the rest of it. It wasn’t right for soldiers, especially officers, to be _involved_. 

He turned to listen to the leader of the village speak, but didn’t understand a word of Bhunemese.

The leader then turned to him and Kora and said in basic, “Welcome our honored guests. We are apologetic about the attack on you. We came to see you as a new wild beast that we must capture and tame.” His accent was very thick, but Trick was able to understand what he was getting at. “We use a special powder that magically changes the fur of one animal to another. This causes them to fight and distract each other while we capture them. It seems we did this to you by accident. We hope you will forgive us.”

“Of course,” Kora said smoothly.

Trick nodded brusquely, “Yes.”

“We do not have a powder to change you back now, but the effects do wear off. I can assure you.” The leader bowed his head low in continued apology.

Trick was about to scoff and ask how long, but he felt Kora’s hand against his chest as she leaned on him again, “Do you know about how long until they do?”

The leader scratched his jaw and leaned over to another Amaran. Trick noticed they spoke quickly, but it was a careful speech with many nods and filler words. The leader sat up straight again and said, “My brother says you were hit when the moon was setting. The effects of the powder should only last until the sun sets.”

Kora kept her hand on his chest plate and said, “Perfect. I would not like for these changes to be too permanent.” She gave a laughing smile, the kind that calmed people down when they were feeling anxious. Trick had seen it used plenty of times on their troops, and it hadn’t failed to quiet tensions yet.

The leader opened his mouth to show off his teeth as well. Kora seemed to take it as a smile, but Trick was still a little wary of the species that could change a person’s hair and eye color with a magic powder. He felt himself give a little grin back, but mostly because Kora still had her hand on his chest plate and was looking at him expectantly. 

“Wonderful!” The Amaran clapped his paws together and bowed his head again, “And we would be honored to have a Master Jedi and Republic Soldier join us for dinner. If you are willing.”

Trick had successfully ignored the cramp in his stomach until now, but he still didn’t think that stopping during the mission was a good idea. They had to make it to the RV point in Kodari for extraction before sun down tomorrow, and that was at least another thousand klicks to the west. If they traveled through the night, they would be in Kodari by day break and could relax then.

He looked over to discuss with Kora, but her devilish look already told him that they would be staying here for the night. It took some effort to keep himself from sighing. If they missed the extraction, they would be stuck on Bhunemir for another month. Not exactly a position he wanted to be in while in a neutral system that sat too close to Separatist controlled space.

“Not to worry, my dear Trick,” Kora whispered into his ear. He tensed and felt goosebumps fly over his skin. “We’ll make it back in time. I would personally like to get back to our battalion as well.” So she could sense that he was uneasy about staying. “Plus, the Amarans are a kind people. One of my best friends was an Amaran, and she was compassionate to everyone she met. It’s just how their species works.”

 _Was._ Trick sat on the sentence for a minute, but didn’t dare ask Kora what had happened to her friend. He just wanted her to be happy. He wanted her to know that she was doing a good job. And he definitely trusted her to not lead them into a situation with hard contact, because he was dreadfully tired of shooting his blaster first and asking questions later.    

 _Am I though?_ He saw Kora staring at him with a confused expression and forced a smile. Yes, he was. He wanted the war over, wanted to stop killing innocent people, wanted the Jedi to go back to being peacekeepers, wanted the Republic to return to a true democracy, and wanted his General to be happy again. _My General? She’s a Jedi. She’ll go back to being a Jedi. But she’s still_ my _General._

His mind wondered about what he was going to do after the war. If he survived, that is. He pursed his lips and sucked the back of his teeth. _My General._

He wasn’t aware of how close Kora had gotten until she whispered, “What are you thinking of?”

Trick’s heart jumped, but he didn’t lose his composure. He looked around quickly, noticing the little Amarans were passing around deep wooden bowls, and grabbed two for himself and Kora. “I was just thinking of the war.”

He turned and looked into her still-clone eyes and saw vaguely familiar doubt. She could read him like a holobook; and for some reason he really enjoyed the fact that she could. She knew he was lying through his teeth.

This time, Trick did sigh, “I’m thinking about what happens after the war ends.”

Kora sat back on the heel of her hand and brushed the dark hair out of her eyes, scowling. She seemed to be thinking of a response, and Trick waited for some of that peculiar Jedi wisdom to be riddled back at him.

“Yeah, me too.”

That was it. No Jedi wisdom. No turn-around questions. No answers. Just, me too. It actually frightened Trick. “What?”

He watched Kora’s shoulder rise and fall quickly. “I think about that a lot as well.”

“Why?” Trick couldn’t understand why Kora would ponder over something that was already answered for her. “You’ll go back to negotiating. You’ll go back to Temple life.”

The head Amaran came by and spooned a thick stew into Kora’s bowl and then into Trick’s. His head bobbed and he muttered something incoherent to Kora and she replied quietly, “Patan, Siwejie.” He passed and she lifted the bowl to her lips to eat. Trick watched her with his warm stew resting in his hands.

She brought the bowl down slowly and licked her lips. “Perhaps.” Trick knew she was answering him, but it almost seemed as if she was talking aloud to herself. “But the Jedi’s way of life has changed, and I have changed.” She looked at him with an almost cold stare, “Tell me, if I were to send you back to Coruscant where you would work in the regiment’s barracks, would you like what you would be doing?”

 _Oh shab no!_ “I am under your command, General, so if you would like me to do that, then I would have no quarrels about it.” His lips pressed together and his eyebrow rose in silent anger. He didn’t think that Kora would send him back to serve as a clerk for their regiment, but he did know she felt better knowing her men—her _Company_ was safe from being killed in action. He wouldn’t put it past her to do something like that to throw him back into line.

“You know that’s not what I asked.” He saw her grin from the corner of her mouth, and relaxed immediately.

“Oh.” He was at a loss for words. He wanted to tell her that he would do anything for her, even if it would make him unhappy; but that was just it, a desk job in the barracks would make him feel useless. “I guess… no. I would feel useless. Like I was wasting my time.”

“You need to be here. On the front lines, fighting with your brothers…”

Trick nodded in agreement, _And you._

“You have a sense of duty and honor. And that is my predicament.” She dipped her finger into her stew and sucked on it before continuing, “I am supposed to have that sense of duty and honor as well, but not for other people. Not like you have for your brothers. I am not allowed to form attachments to a cause, and yet I am. I do every day.” She paused and looked back up at him, “And I really enjoy it. There is no place that I’d rather be than fighting alongside you boys. I can’t _leave_ the GAR; because that means deserting from all of you, and that would just… it would be bad.”

“Ah.” He nodded slowly, “I know exactly how you feel, General.”

“Oh I know,” she laughed back at him. “I guess we’re really in this until the end.”

“Don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.” He lifted the bowl to eat.

“Nope.” Kora did the same.

Trick liked the silences between them. It was always contemplative, not awkward. He considered what she had just said. Leaving the army for her meant the same as if a soldier left the army. It meant deserting. He wasn’t going to lie, he thought about skipping out on the rest of the war sometimes. He was sick of fighting for a Republic that clearly didn’t know how to formally command an army, and instead got the only source of peacekeepers in the galaxy to fight it for them. In fact, the only reason he knew he was still an officer of the GAR was because of his brothers and the Jedi he wanted to protect. Jango be damned. He might have had drill after drill about fighting for the Republic and doing everything in his power to protect it, but that was when he was younger, before he left Kamino to fight in a war he had prepared his life around. That was before he saw the humanity on hundreds of planets and what the war was doing to their lives. He wouldn’t desert, he couldn’t. But he would fight for the end of this war.

“So stoic,” Kora said after a while.

“Stoic?” Trick’s eyebrows rose.

“When you’re thinking about the war, you are.” She tilted her head and smiled softly at him. “Come on, just for one night, _one night_ , just stop thinking about the war.” She paused for a moment then put her hand out, palm up. “Come on!”

Trick took it without hesitation. Even with his own hand gloved, he could feel the warmth that her hand gave off and it made his stomach squirm.

Kora pulled him up with no effort, and dragged him outside of the hut. He always admired how strong she was, and laughed to himself about how she didn’t even look like she could pick up a Deece. She could definitely pick up more than a Deece, and he had seen her in action. 

“Where are we going?” he almost laughed out.

Kora tugged him along, “There’s apparently a meteor shower tonight. I overheard two Amarans mention it on our way here. We’re going to watch.” Her teeth were flashing in the dying light as she let out a laugh.

Trick couldn’t help but look at the way her hips swung as she walked, perfectly keeping time with her step. Her wings were drawn in, but it almost looked like she was ready to run and lift off with them at any time. Trick knew he wasn’t the only one who found it breathtaking to watch. His eyes trained on the bare skin around her middle; the small of her back looked smoother than any river-worn stone he had come across and he moved to reach out to her but stopped himself immediately. _My General._ His head was a fog whenever he thought about Kora _that_ way, and he shook his head violently. He knew what had happened, and hoped in the back of his mind that she felt the same way. Her words echoed in his head, ‘I’ve changed… I enjoy it… just forget about the war for one day.’ He was beginning to think she might; but pushed it out of his head. _I’m her Captain. She is my General. There’s nothing more to this_ professional _relationship._  

“Here. Sit.”

He was jarred out of his thoughts and obeyed her command without thinking. The grass was low on the little hill they had jogged to, and he hesitated to take off his gloves and actually _feel_ the world around him.

Kora sat down next to him. Close. “You can take off your armor, you know.”

His head tilted slightly to the side in his own form of a shrug. He wanted to, but he was still cautious of the terrain.

She shrugged back at him, “Just figured it’d be more comfortable.”

Perhaps just his pauldrons. He carefully lifted the padded material off of his shoulders and set them down beside where he was sitting.

“That must be a little better…” She turned to smile at him. “I know armor can be cumbersome.”

“It can get in the way, but it has its uses.” He chuckled and looked back down at the grass. “Although, there’s something that I always like…” He didn’t finish his sentence; he just began to take off his hand plates and gloves. Very gently he leaned over and ran his fingers through the grass. It wasn’t as pleasant as he had experienced on other planets, but it was still soft and damp. He loved how it felt alive, unlike so many things he had been exposed to in his short life.

Kora leaned over and snatched his hand. He was glad it had gotten dark because he could feel his face get hot. He watched, holding his breath, as she turned his hand over and ran her fingers over his palm and tips of fingers. 

“Your hands are so smooth. I’ve always been curious…”

That’s when he noticed her hands were the complete opposite. He could feel the rough callouses as she ran her fingers over his. He found it mildly interesting that a Jedi would have hands reminiscent of a soldier, but he apparently had the hands of someone that had never touched the battlefield.

“They’re always in gloves, so… I mean, I’m sorry, General; we were just raised with our armor on eighty five percent of the time. Blaster resistant material makes even getting callouses hard.” He looked up at her with an apologetic smile.

Kora looked directly at him and then her face began to break out in the biggest smile. Soon she was laughing hard. “I’m sorry, Trick… I’m not sure why I find that so… funny!”

“It’s alright.” Trick paused before continuing. He loved just to hear her laugh ring out across the night. “In my opinion, it is pretty laughable.”

“No… Just…” She looked back at him, “Ironic.”

That’s when he noticed it. He could barely tell in the darkness, but her eyes and hair were fairer in the light of the moons. They had turned back to normal and he hadn’t even noticed. He scolded himself for his lack of awareness, and opened his mouth to tell her.

She was the first to speak, though, “Now that’s the Trick I know. Back to golden and black. It must have been a quick change…” She moved closer and he could now see the blue in her eyes. “Yep, definitely looks better this way. So…” she sat back again, “how do I look?”

 _More beautiful than a sunset on Bakura. More stunning than all of the night life on Coruscant. More gorgeous than all of the stars put together in the galaxy._ Trick noticed that she was still holding his hand and swallowed before saying, “You look like General Kora again.” It was all that he would let himself say.

She reached over and patted his cheek still wearing a big smile, “You’re such a sweetheart.” She turned away just as quick and looked up into the night sky.

Trick looked down at their hands still wrapped together, and didn’t dare move his hand for fear that she might pull away. He just sat there, content in his thoughts of the unpredictable future, and looked up with her as the first meteor streaked across the sky.


End file.
